Kyanzavi Water Committee: The Pump We Cannot Open — Epoche B1
Minutes: Kyanzavi Water Committee Date: Sunday 15 October, 10.00 to 11.30 Place: Village hall, Kyanzavi, Machakos County Chair: Mr J. Mutiso Minutes: Mrs A. Nzioka Present: 34 members, including four elders. Apologies: 3 1. The broken borehole The pump has been out twenty-three days. It is an India Mark II, the standard deep-well hand pump across much of Africa and Asia, and the chair asked that the reason for the delay be minuted. The handle above ground is only a lever. The real pump - cylinder and piston - sits far down the borehole, joined to the handle by steel rods, and the fault is in those rods. Reaching them means lifting them out in sections, with clamps and tools the village does not own and training nobody here has. A village can use this pump daily for years and still not be able to open it. 2. Effect on households Mrs Nzioka's figures from twelve households: a 4 km river round trip of up to two hours, two or three times a day, two 20-litre cans a journey - in all twelve, by women or girls of nine and over. Three members reported girls reaching school after the first lesson. An elder asked that the repair be treated as a village problem, not a women's problem. Agreed. 3. Repair and decisions A technician from Machakos has quoted KSh 18,000 with transport, a week after payment. The committee holds KSh 4,200; each household is asked for KSh 400 by 29 October. No household will be refused water. Mr Kioko and Mr Musyoka fetch the written quotation on 18 October. From January, KSh 500 a month is set aside for maintenance, so the next fault is a repair, not a crisis. Meeting closed 11.30. Next meeting: Sunday 29 October, 10.00. References Mbiti, J. S. (1969). African Religions and Philosophy. Heinemann. Nyerere, J. K. (1968). Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism. Oxford University Press.